Christmas Rush
by DictionairyChick
Summary: RUSH:Its Christmas eve, and the rush crew are gearing up for their busiest ever!
1. Chapter 1

Christmas Rush

Chapter 1

It was warm and breezy, this summery Melbourne night. A night where magic could happen right before your eyes and you'd take it with a pinch of salt and be on your way, simply because you felt it normal on a night like this.

Christmas Eve always felt this way to Grace.

She couldn't feel it at the moment though, as she walked slowly along the moonlit alleyway. She was alert to every movement, every sound that echoed along the lonely street. Her footfalls were soft, short and slow, her elbows braced; holding a gun.

She strained her ears, listening intently for any sound that might give her, or her target, away. If he knew where she was, half the game was lost. She had a fair inkling that she still held that upper hand; she was good at being silent.

Just as she slinked past a big dark-looking skip, something moved, something rustled gently enough to make you wonder if anything had moved at all.

_Bingo_, she thought as she fought instinct not to turn around suddenly, giving away her position. If she spooked her target before she was ready to chase him… She stayed still, crouching beside the skip, ready-

Somewhere about her left shoulder her radio suddenly sparked loudly, and she heard a distinct plastic thump above her head.

Grace swore, swinging out of her cramped position and aiming at the silhouette racing up the alley. She took off, using the skip as leverage onto the next. He was fast, but not fast enough to outrun Grace (even if she was a good head shorter). She leapt down onto a bin and jumped onto the pavement, quickly gathering momentum in her pace.

"Stop! Police!" She yelled, and she saw the man falter in his stride. She ran harder, eyes on the pavement and sprinting, almost in the vicinity to jump…

He turned sharply to the left, and Grace followed, pivoting off the curb.

She almost ran into something as she cleared the corner; something she definitely hadn't expected. Literally skidding to a stop, Grace caught sight of a blue uniform before she skidded straight into the back of the man she had been chasing.

Dazed she stepped back and saw he was being held up by none other than Sergeant Josh himself.

Cursing in exhilaration, she bent over, using her arms for support on her knees and threw him a smirk.

"Glad you got here on time." She grinned.

He smiled as he marched the man past.

"Yeah, figured you might need some help." Grace shook her head, smiling at his amused expression.

She followed on, still breathing hard as she cast a look back down the street.

They walked a way up the street before the familiar sight of their police car rolled up on the curb.

Michael poked his head out the driver's window.

"You guys got him then Grace?"

Grace nodded, pulling open the passenger door to get in.

"Grace? Grace Barry?" An unfamiliar voice sounded behind her, and she paused. She looked around at Josh, puzzled. Her face fell when she saw the facial features of the man they had caught, now lit by the street lamps, and recognized him.

*

"Guys? How far away from South Melbourne square are you?"

"Six minutes, why?" asked Lawson, looking round to indicate turning left.

"I've just got a call from somewhere near South Avenue detailing some sort of domestic." Leon typed audibly into the radio.

"What sort of domestic?"

Leon sat back in his chair, grinning.

"Just the usual man vs. wife in the earshot of some nosy neighbors"

Lawson rolled his eyes, but Stella grinned to herself in the backseat. She never failed to be amused by the frequent antics of her teammates.

"Where does he get that crap anyway?"

Leon started typing away again.

"Just make it up. Its simple quick wit Lawson, I'm just sorry you can't see it for the brilliance it is."

Lawson shook his head.

"My ass it is."

"C'mon Lawson, these awesome late night rounds wouldn't be half as much fun if Leon wasn't always charming us with his humor" Chuckled Stella.

"Why thank you Stella. And guys, I've been looking into this call, it seems it was made from a public box not two minutes away from the address given, 7 South Avenue, and only lasted long enough to tell us where it was."

Stella frowned.

"You don't think they're being serious." She realized.

"Or they're setting us up for something." Said Dom

Lawson nodded as they sped up.

"Keep us posted on anything you find Leon"

"Will do; in the mean time be careful guys"

Dom smirked

"We're always careful"

*


	2. Chapter 2

Here we go: Chapter 2!

Enjoy!!

PS: I own nothing. Really, not Rush, not even the jeans I'm wearing… Do own undies though, and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't take those off me…

Chapter 2

Grace cupped a hand to the nape of her neck, rubbing away a tight spot. It was going to be a long night.

Footsteps behind her alerted her to Josh's approach, but she kept her stride.

"Grace?"

She didn't look at him as he swung into step beside her.

"You know that guy?"

Still no answer.

"Grace-" She felt a strong arm grasp hers and she was forced to slow, leaning in.

She looked at him, frowning in defiance.

She was a little annoyed to see the familiar look of stern worry on his face. He stared at her then, and it always made Grace feel like he saw straight through her when he did that.

"What?" She insisted, impatient at the look he was giving her.

His expression became softer, a smile playing on his lips. He could be so frustrating sometimes; he always did that. Then it made her smile and they both would crack up for absolutely no reason. Then, shed shove him and go do something else and he'd watch her go with a big smile on his face. Walking clichés, the pair of them.

"Yes I know him" She said, avoiding his eyes, trying not to smile and give in to his knowing expression.

"Or knew." She began to walk again, Josh right beside her.

"We went to the same high school. He got done for some drug-related things after, but we stayed in touch. Haven't talked to him in three years now though."

She shoved the door to the lockers open with a little more force than necessary.

"Matt was a good guy. Why he's got caught up with this stuff is a mystery to me." She opened her locker, pulling out her drink bottle.

She paused for a second, weighing it up.

"He's just…" She looked at Josh, shaking her head. "I don't know."

Josh nodded.

"Do you think he has anything to do with that stuff that happened last month?"

Grace leant against the locker, thinking to herself. She glanced back at Josh.

"I don't know. He's changed a lot since I knew him."

She pondered this.

"I never thought… he was the last person I would have thought to get involved with this stuff. Drugs, I mean, everyone had done something in high school…" She looked back at Josh with a frown. "But terrorism? Gangland shit? Matt? No way." She shook her head. Josh looked up at her from the bench, lost in her reminiscing. Suddenly she turned, pulling out some things from her locker, as if brought back to reality.

"Kerry will want us back out there soon."

Josh stood up and patted her on the back gently.

"I'll see you up there in a minute K?"

She turned to meet his eye and nodded in reassurance.

"Yeah" She said softly, and after exchanging a glance, Josh left her to her thoughts. He knew her well enough to know when to leave her to think things through on her own. She knew he'd be back in an instant if she needed him to.

*

7 South Avenue was a typical suburban brick, complete with satellite dish and white picket fence. The porch light threw a hazy golden glow onto the flyscreen front door, the hallway within visible from the curb.

Lawson exchanged ominous glances with Dom, before getting out. There was no shouting; everything was eerily silent.

"Stell, I want you to stand at the gate, report on anything out of the ordinary when we go in. Dom, you and I will go in, and see what's going on."

Stella and Dom nodded, preparing to take their respective positions. Something seemed off to Lawson, something wasn't right.

"Right, let's move in."

Unhooking his Taser, Lawson sidled up to the front door, gesturing to Dom to keep a look out. He tried the flyscreen, it was open. He turned and looked at Stella, who nodded.

With a sigh, he went to knock on the frame-

CRASH

Pulling out his gun, he gently pushed the door open amid the sound of shattering glass and a cursing female voice.

The hallway was lit by dim lamps on either side, and Lawson made his way along; the crash had come from a room off the left of the hall.

He peered into what looked like a lounge room for less than two seconds when a flurry of movement drew his attention to a black-clad man moving toward the woman who belonged to the voice.

Immediately, the man had leapt behind the woman, pulling her back into the Christmas tree. A flash of silver accompanied this strange exchange, he had drawn a knife to the woman's' throat.

'Drop your weapon!" Lawson yelled, aiming at the man.

Something thumped within the house, the back door. They all listened as a scuffle took place, a man yelled and a figure walked past the window. Dom had caught another assailant around the back.

"Was that your mate? Huh? What are you doing here?"

The man looked wildly from the gun to the window and back again, obviously taken aback by their efficiency to take his accomplice out.

"Just put down the knife, and we can talk about this OK?" Lawson eyed the knife.

The man faltered, the woman quickly struggled from his grasp. Instead the man pressed the knife to his throat.

"Now you don't really want to do that do you?" Lawson reached around for his Taser, ready to strike.

"Mate, look just put down the knife, and we can talk about this." Something behind him caught Lawson's attention. There was another door into the lounge, and Stella had taken it to see what was going on.

Lawson relaxed his grip on his Taser, focusing on getting the man to relax his grip on the knife. He took on a relaxed stance.

Stella cocked her Taser behind the man.

"Can you just put that away from your face for a second, so I can talk to you?"

The man hesitated; the knife was now inches away from his throat.

Stella fired, and Lawson came forward to arrest the writhing man.

"Thought you could use a little extra firepower."

Lawson looked at her as he frog-marched the man past.

"Really? How thoughtful."

*

Grace stood in the main hallway, arms folded, frowning at the white glow of the computer screen. Matt Hueblanc sat in the centre, staring at the bland table he was seated at.  
A door on the left opened into the screen, and Kerry stepped in. He didn't even look up.

Grace saw her try to talk to him, leaning against the wall casually making conversation, but to no avail. Matt stared blankly at the desk in front, not moving so much as an inch even when the door snapped shut.

Kerry reappeared beside Grace.

"We're ready to get back out on patrol Kerry, Josh's' just gone to refuel the car." Grace said reassuringly, beginning to leave.

"No, wait Grace."

Intrigued, Grace patiently waited where she was.

"You went to the same high school right?"

"Yes we did."

"Do you think he will talk to you?"

Immediately onto what Kerry was suggesting, grace stiffened and shook her head a little.

"No… I mean I don't know about that-"

"Grace, right now he's the only lead we've got on this. We've been tracking this organisation for months now, trying to figure out what they've been working up to all this time, and he is here right in the middle of it. And you're the only lead we've got on _him_, Grace." She looked at Grace from under her brow sternly.

Grace threw her hands up in exasperation and smirked in resignation.

She didn't give Kerry a second glance as she strode from the room straight into the one holding Matt.

At her he looked up, watching her as she went to stand in front of him.

"Matt?"

"Yeah. You are Grace right?"

She nodded.

"We went-"

"-to school together, yeah." He smiled.

Grace frowned.

"C'mon Matt, what happened to you?"

Matt looked away, at the desk again.

"I… honestly don't know. Time just… sort of slipped away I guess."

Grace looked away solemnly.

"Yeah, it does that doesn't it?"

"Kerry, we're all set to go." Said Josh, striding into the main office and giving Michael a light-hearted punch on the arm while he was at it.

"Where's Grace?" He paused, following Kerry's focused line of sight to the nearest computer monitor.

At that point, Leon chose to reappear, having been printing off some files.

"Hey Kerry? I got some info on this guy; apparently he's been arrested for this stuff before-" He looked up from the files in his hand and stared at the small crowd of people at his desk.

"Oi, how come my desk has gotten so interesting all of a sudden? What did I miss out on?" he squeezed in beside Michael and found the source of their interest.

"So Gracie got him to talk?" he said grinning and sliding into his chair in front of the other three.

"Put it on speaker can you Leon?"

"Can do; just give me a tick…" Leon looked up to the monitor, and began typing away. A minute later Graces voice came through the speakers of the desktop.

"What where you doing there tonight?"

"I was selling drugs, what I always do on a Saturday night."

Josh heard Grace's undeceived laugh.

"No, no you weren't just selling drugs Matt. What's with all this anti-government group crap? I always thought you didn't care."

He didn't answer.

"I'm sure you'll care when they see you've been arrested again. It sure ain't going to roll very well when you get taken back to prison."

Still no answer.

"You're not doing yourself any favours." She said, brushing him off.

"What if I could tell you something about my group huh?"

Grace paused, folding her arms.

"What 'something'?"

He grinned to himself, still staring at the table. Grace stiffened, this didn't look good.

"Their latest plans to put our theories into action."

Grace looked at him with growing sense of dread.

"When?"

He looked up at her, grinning.

"Tonight"

*

BUM BUM BUUUUUUUM! Ooh, what will the team do? Tune in and find out soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Here it is! Chapter 3!

Thankyou to all my reviewers, for the reviews and adds, I am honoured to be on your alerts (moonshine and Mistreated, Thanks!). It is my goal in writing this that you all get as much enjoyment from reading this as I did writing it. Also, thankyou to my awesome friend Ducky for the reviews. This chapter is therefore dedicated to you my crazy friend, even though you have never seen rush and therefore don't know what is going on.

Enjoy!

-Chloe-

Chapter 3

"And?" Grace painstakingly kept her face indifferent.

Matt looked down at the desk. Strange nostalgia stole through Grace as she remembered that he'd never look her in the eye when he was thinking hard about something, in this case what to tell her; how much to let on.

"I can give you information. You might even make it in time to stop them, but I doubt that. It's too well planned to be thwarted by a couple of cops."

"Go on then."

Matt laughed darkly.

"Oh no, I don't think I will. Normally I get something in return for what I have. That's how it works Gracie, or you don't get what you want."

Grace gathered herself up, leaning against the wall. He was playing up the sneering indifference well.

"What do you want?"

"I tell you what I know, and you guys let me go, no questions asked. No report, no record that I was involved, nothing on tonight whatsoever. You drop me off home and everything's sweet, you get your guys and I get a quiet Christmas."

Grace just stood there, her wide brown eyes surveying his guarded but forcibly relaxed form. After a long time, she finally spoke.

"Alright." She straightened up, enfolding her arms tighter.

"What? She's not serious!" Exclaimed Leon, looking around to gauge the reactions of the other team members. Josh was frowning, thinking hard, Kerry looked doubtful and Michael was unconcerned.

"It makes sense." Said Josh, his mouth drawn up at one side, frowning.

"But heres the rules: You tell us what you know, and we'll decide if it fits your order. Give us enough of the right info and we'll think about it. Then, if we're all still standing on Christmas day, you can go."

Matt smirked, a dark expression in his cloudy grey-green eyes.

"Oh I think this will warrant your conditions."

Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"The Christmas parade. They say there will be over a thousand people, just… watching…it…go…by…" He ended slowly, dramatically, slumping in his chair and sneering.

Grace looked at him with a guarded expression.

"Its big on the government's agenda too, a good opportunity for charity and making politics look good. Not so good if there's a mass shoot out right in the middle, won't look so good when everyone's in a panic, not the receptive mind frame they were hoping for."

"How long?"

"Till Midnight."

Grace had already shoved open the door, disappearing in a flash of black, blue and caramel gold.

"If his mate's smart he'll stay out of trouble, like nothing ever happened. Go home for Christmas and thank his lucky stars he saw sense and chickened out, calling it in to us instead." said Lawson to Dom as they got out of the car back at base.

They followed Stella through the locker room and back up to the main hallway, where the rest of the team was clustered around Leon, their black vests hunched up at the shoulders.

Lawson stopped behind Kerry, peering over Leon's jacketed shoulder at the monitor.

"What's happening?" He asked, looking at Kerry, who was watching the screen with narrowed eyes.

"Grace just made a deal with a man involved with an anti-government extremist group. He'll give us information on who is most likely to end up dead at the Chrissie parade tonight; we stop it and let him go with no charges."

"Sounds simple" said Stella sarcastically as they watched Grace leave the screen. Immediately Josh had shoved away from the desk, his well-built form striding swiftly down the hall. Kerry and Lawson followed.

Grace appeared to the left, pulling the door closed. She met their anxious gaze with an uneasy expression as they started to go back to the main office.

"What do you think?" asked Kerry in an undertone as they strode up the hall. Graces' mouth twitched up at the corner, uncertain.

"Do you think he's for real?" Kerry went on.

"I believe him. I think something's definitely going on." She caught Josh's eye, his guarded expression matching her own.

"Something's going to happen."

They rounded the corner, meeting up with the rest of the crew. Immediately, they gathered around Grace.

"What's going on?"

"Surely he's not serious?"

"A shootout…"

Kerry shushed them with an impatient gesture.

"Grace thinks the threat is true. We need to decide what we're doing, and fast. We've only got until midnight to sort this out. Any ideas?"

"Set up a perimeter and get targets out of the way." offered Stella with a shrug.

"What if he's bullshitting us, and this is just a ruse to get us out of the way of the real threat, if there even is one?" Interjected Michael.

"He's our only lead." Said Grace, the palm of her hand upturned in a negotiable gesture.

"Exactly." Everyone fell silent, looking at Lawson. "It's just him isn't it? We can't know if he's telling us the truth. It sounds pretty dodgy to me."

"But we still have to act on it if there's a chance it could be right." Lawson and Grace looked stubbornly at each other.

"We should suss it out. Grace, he was willing to negotiate with you?" Grace nodded at Josh's' quiet, but sure, voice. "Then we should get down there and check it out, bring drug boy with us." He was looking over to Lawson with his usual irresolute expression; up from under his brow. Lawson still wasn't convinced.

"And what if there is Josh? What if there are snipers staked out everywhere? We can't just go in there guns blazing." Lawson folded his arms, a frown on his dark brows.

"Course not." Said Josh, a hint of irritation coming through in his voice. Leon muttered disappointedly behind them. Everyone stared.

"What?" He demanded, looking up sheepishly.

Grace looked from Leon to Lawson, imploringly.

"We haven't got much time. Lawson, what are we doing? Are we going?"

"Yeah." Replied Lawson, albeit grudgingly.

"Let's go then. Grace, you go with Lawson and get Matt to tell you everything he knows. Stella and Michael, go with Josh and get supplies, Dom, you and I will help Leon dig up anything we can on this parade. Make it quick people!" Kerry ordered, and with that, everyone strode away to their delegated positions, Kerry following Dom and Leon to the computers. Grace strode on after Lawson, meeting Josh's gaze as she walked past.

Matt was just where she'd left him; he looked up at their entry.

"Matt? This is senior sergeant Lawson Blake. We're here to ask you questions on the threat tonight."

Matt looked at Lawson with a patronising expression.

"I'm not saying anything unless you agree to my terms."

"We will. Once the threat has been taken care of, we'll take you home, no questions asked." Lawson said, sitting in the chair opposite. Matt looked imploringly up at Grace. She nodded.

"Then we have a deal, senior sergeant."

"Shoot."

"They plan to start shooting around midnight; everything is being prepared about now." Lawson frowned at this.

"Shooting?"

"We've got five or so snipers stationed around the parade, generally causing trouble, then we've got one stationed to take out the commissioner."

"You're going to have to be more specific than that." Grace said firmly.

"I don't know _exactly_. I'm not important enough to know much more than that." He said impudently.

Grace shrugged.

"I guess we can't help you then. If that's all."

Matt shook his head, looking at her with a heated frown.

"No, I know where three of them will definitely be. And I can tell you who to look for."

Lawson leaned in.

"Go on then."

Matt looked at him fiercely.

"Marcus Fletcher. Jonas Barnes. Mitchell Greenman. All here tonight. There are others… who won't be, but who are part of it too. Barny Horton, Daniel Wrackton-"

"Wait. Daniel? Isn't he that real estate agent who got done a few years back for a D and D?" Asked Lawson. Matt nodded.

"Marcus will be on the commissioner. He organised this whole thing. If you can get to him, you'd be able to track down the rest- he knows them all."

"Leon, are you getting this? Can you r-"

"Run a search on them, yes Lawson I would be delighted!" said Leon sarcastically, already typing away. Lawson rolled his eyes.

"Are you supposed to be there?" Grace looked down at Matt.

"Just at the gates. A wingman if something doesn't go right." She looked at Lawson.

"He should come then. We can keep an eye on him and get more info, make sure he's not trying to bail on us." Lawson nodded.

"Go and see if they've sorted themselves out yet Grace, I'll take him and get Kerry to put a tracer on."

"Sounds fun." Brooded Matt as Lawson pulled him to his feet and Grace pushed open the door darkly amused.

She bumped into Josh and Stella on the landing, carrying the usual black bags. Grace followed on. They made their way back to the computers, where Leon was typing furiously and Kerry and Dom were perusing bits of paper.

"Grace, I've got info on those guys he mentioned. This Marcus guy is a shady character, been done for theft, weapon possession and suspected gangland activity." Leon eyed her with a grin "You might want to be careful out there."

"Will do." Said Grace, amused.

Matt came through the glass double doors from the foyer then, being marched forward by the scruff of the neck by Lawson. Grace saw the reason for his disgruntlement; Lawson had fitted a thin ankle tracer to his leg, and had chucked another to Josh.

Josh eyed him suspiciously.

"What's this for?"

"Put it on. You're on Matt, if he moves more than ten metres away from you, you can shoot him."

Everyone watched with interest the battle raging across Josh's face. Torn between having to baby-sit drug boy complete with an ankle bracelet, and his new permission to be able to shoot said drug boy, Josh put up one hell of a war inside his head. Finally, grudgingly deciding it was OK, he looked up and smirked at Lawson.

"This had better be one hell of a shootout."

And with that, he strode off down the hall, Matt following on reluctantly.

"Grace and Michael, you go with Josh," They turned and hurried after Josh, picking up the remaining bags. "We'll meet you down there." Called Kerry in their wake.

"Stella and Dom, you come with me and Lawson, We'll contact back up and get going, decide on how this is going to roll when we get down there. Strap yourselves in guys. This is going to be a long night."

Matt and Michael sat in the back seat, waiting for Josh to chuck the rest of the bags in. Grace had gone past her locker, picking up her things ready to go after this charge. Josh caught himself staring as she swept a few loose strands of dark caramel gold hair behind her ears and carried her bag to the boot. He smiled in spite of himself as she approached, giving him a strange look as she shoved it in, before he hastily looked away. Her wide brown eyes were quizzical as he stooped to pick up the last bag, hastily shoving the door closed and climbing in the passenger door. Her expression was still one of amusement as she got in the drivers seat.

"Ten minutes. No siren." Said Grace, a wide cheeky grin on her face as she looked from Josh, to Michael in the rear view mirror.

Michael nodded.

"You're on. Twenty bucks says you don't make it without a ticket."

She looked at Josh, catching his eye. He turned away with a chuckle. She faced the front, still grinning to herself. If they were headed for one hell of an attack, she may as well lighten up the journey a tad.

*

Will update soonish. But not too soon :( as I have just gotten a job and will be a little busier than usual. Lets say Monday at the latest. Again, thanks to all the reviewers. Keep them coming pretty please :)

Thanks

Chloe


	4. Chapter 4

Yay! Chapter 4 is now up! YAAAY!

Sorry it's late; this one was taking a bit longer to write than expected.

Thankyou so much for the support guys! I'm really excited about this story!!! (I'm usually excited about most things, but I'm more than usually excited about this. Hmm you get the point  )

Tam: Thankyou so much for the kind review! Lol, yeah I loved that about Josh and Grace, it makes me laugh (in an awww sorta way) the way they look at each other, I thought I'd put in some of their antics lol.

Mistreated: Yay! Thankyou so very much for the many reviews! And you have to tell me where you got that AWESOME pic of Grace and Josh (Ch 9 was my fav episode) on your profile page. LOVE IT! Love you too (and everyone else that reviewed!)

Anyways! On with the story!

Enjoy

Chloe 

"Lawson, can you get the car set up? You too Stella. Dom, call backup, alert the authorities to keep a low profile, tell them about the situation. Leon-" Kerry looked at him, hesitating.

"You just… do what it is you do, look up some stuff or something." She said waving her arms in a final sort of way, and turned on her heel.

Lawson exchanged a glance with Stella before shaking his head and heading for the supply room.

Leon shook his head and grumbled as he turned back to the computer.

Grace heard Michael groan as they approached the glittering side street.

"What's that? Did I win?" She said, meeting Michaels' glare in the rear view mirror with her own highly amused expression.

The reflection from the tinsel adorning the headlights shimmered gold, green, blue, silver and red through the windscreen, illuminating the car down the otherwise dark street. Josh caught her eye and smirked at her smug expression.

They hit the end of the road, which intersected the main road; the road that the parade would progress down. The right was road-blocked off, so Grace indicated left, passing some stragglers on her way.

"Grace?" Kerry's voice cracked into the radio.

Grace glanced at it, for a split-second.

"Kerry, we're there, heading up Dartnall now."

"Good, head up there and then go down Hall Street, stay away from South for the moment. There should be a road block on Hall; we'll use this as a base."

"Copy that." She signed off, pulling the steering wheel and accelerating up the street on the left. Josh looked cagily out the window, at the stragglers under the street lamps. She slowed down as they approached the road block, pulling down her window to talk to the officers.

"We're here with tactical response" She showed him her ID. Josh zoned out while she discussed their situation. The man had received an alert, but like all other general officers was curious to know more. Grace told him only enough to enable them to pass.

Josh eyed the dimly-lit empty street with an ominous expression, before meeting Graces eye and exchanging looks.

"We just wait here till Kerry comes?"

"Yeah." She said, pushing the door open and stepping out into the warm night.

She heard Josh groan, and she looked back at him with a laugh. It wasn't long before they looked up collectively as headlights rounded the far corner. The police let the marked Subaru forrester past the gates, and it rolled up beside them, full of familiar faces in blue shirts and black vests.

"What up?" Chirped Stella with her usual grin out the back window.

"We've told them-" Josh jerked a thumb behind him "about the situation."

"Good." Said Kerry, stepping out of the drivers' door. She surveyed everyone as they gathered around.

"Leon, what's happening? Are you in?"

Furious typing was heard on everyone's radio.

"Correctamundo! I have-" he paused, clicking up a screen of the square "Three cameras up now, along with all of yours and I'm working on the cameras to all the surrounding buildings, stairwells, toilets… etc."

Kerry's expression was one of incredulous amusement.

"Very good Leon, if you would be so kind as to be our eyes for this evening."

"Yes ma'am. Right, I hope everyone is listening, cuz I'm only going to say this once. In the square is where it's all going to happen, they come down South street crescent and do a loop around the roundabout and go. The commissioner-" He brought up another screen of maps and photos "Will be entering in a police car on the west entrance, then he'll get out and say a few words on the steps to the Dartnall hall bell tower. Then he'll be escorted away while everyone's sharing the love at midnight."

"We should start from the edges, work our way in." said Lawson. "Clear buildings on our way."

"No, that would take too long. Leon? Can you get us security footage of the last 48 hours from as many of the south street buildings as you can? Trace any unusual behaviour."

"Doing it now."

Kerry looked over at Josh, Grace and Michael.

"Even that will take a while. We need to get in there and suss as much out as we can. Josh? Matt's knowledge will be invaluable here, I want you, Grace and Stella to change out of uniform and mingle undercover with the crowd. I'll get you in, then you split up and try to find who he's been talking about on the ground." She turned to Lawson. "You, Dom and Michael work with Leon to clear the buildings. We have to find this Marcus guy."

They nodded, before scarpering off to get ready. Josh and Grace went with Matt back to the car. Stella followed on, pulling off her vest and packing it into the passenger seat. Grace went to the boot and yanked out her bag, pulling off her vest as she did so.

_Lucky I brought it along, or I'd be royally stuffed_, she thought as she pulled out some jeans and a tank.

"You-" Josh pointed at Matt as he rounded the four wheel drive "Stay in the car". His glare was severe enough that Matt obeyed, sitting down in the open door of the car beside. Grace pulled off her shirt as quickly as she could (Josh looked away pointedly, effectively offering his broad back as a screen while she changed) shoving on her black singlet and some dark jeans.

"Aww shit!" Josh and Grace both jerked their head up at the same time, exchanging an apprehensive glance.

"Stella? Wha-?" Josh began, but Stella cut him off, leaning out near the other cars bumper.

"I left my bloody pants back at base!"

Grace almost laughed.

"Don't worry, I've got spare."

Grace swept past with something dark in her hand. Stella met her sympathetic expression with a sheepish one. She held the jeans Grace had pressed into her hands and looked from them to Grace (who was already striding away with a smile on her face) with an incredulous expression. Josh raised his eyebrows at Stella; she shot him a rebuff then disappeared with a scuffle behind the bonnet.

Rolling his eyes, Josh unbuttoned his own shirt, shrugging it off the black tee-shirt he wore under it.

After a few more minutes, everyone was ready. Grace sidled up to the rest of the crew beside Josh and Stella. He was wearing his black shirt with that darned faded denim jacket he always wore.

"Radios?" barked Kerry.

Grace answered her by a surreptitious scratch of the neck.

"In order."

"And you?" Kerry looked to Lawson.

"We're ready."

"Well, I've been born ready people, so can we go now?"

"Shut up Leon." Muttered everyone in sync.

"Midnight everyone! Chop Chop!"

It seemed everyone rolled their eyes.

"We're going in around the back, Leon has cleared most of the buildings up the left side of the street, and is working on the rest, we'll try and clear the ones he can't get to for the meantime."

Lawson said, showing on a map where he, Michael and Dom would be operating.

"Matt will guide us through Josh; we'll be scouting around on the ground looking for the men he can recognise." Said Grace.

"Good, good. And it would be a good idea to have someone close to the commissioner, so we can move if we have to." Kerry looked around at her team.

"And people?" They looked back at Kerry. "This is top priority, don't blow your cover. And if we're going to get this we're gonna have to be fast" She nodded to Lawson as they moved out. It was going to be a difficult night, but Kerry had never known her team perform better. She knew they would do admirably with the time that had been given to them. With a last wistful glance, Kerry stalked back to talk to the rest of the police that had arrived as back up.

The group split up, Dom and Michael circling wide, around the back of the west buildings, Lawson went further down. Grace positioned herself with the crowd near the north roundabout, beside the bell tower.

This main road had been lavishly decorated, the ambient mood of the street matching the old buildings, complete with a bell-topped church at the far end of the road. Grace could see right up to the end of the street, grassed areas breaking up the scatter of buildings. It was filled with people, who for now where spilled out onto the road.

"Josh, how're you for position?" She murmured into her wrist.

"We're heading up the east side now, we'll wait until the procession starts, then we'll run through that side." Came Josh's voice, soft and even.

"I'm on the other side." Said Stella.

"Josh, let Stella know if you find anyone."

"Copy that." He murmured.

Grace had seen the picture of the men Leon had found, and blessed with her good memory, could picture them clearly in her mind. Casually, she mingled with the jostling crowd behind the barrier beside the stone steps of the bell tower, appearing nonchalant, but carefully scouting for any sign of someone who was not supposed to be there.

"Right. Guys? I am your saviour! I've got peripherals on this whole street, three cameras in position to watch the entire parade. There's one on the bell tower opposite, one's up on that old pub hotel, and another one on some sort of satellite dish near the security barrier."

Grace turned away to the shadows, pretending to comb her hair through with her fingers.

"Can you see us Leon? Can you run through the crowd you can see and try to match anyone to those pictures you have on file?"

Leon sat back, scratching his head.

"Jeez, I never thought of that. Aren't you the high tech one today Gracie!"

"Haven't we got something to do that? We are the police after all." Exclaimed Stella.

"Yeah well, the whole system had to be rebooted last week. Forgive me for not scraping two seconds together to reload the program." Leon's typing could be heard audibly in everyone's ear.

"Right, that's sorted. I'll run it through, and keep you guys posted."

Meanwhile, Josh and Matt were jostling in the crowd beside the fence where the parade had begun.

"There" Josh whispered down at Matt, motioning in a tiny gesture to a long jacketed man leaning on the corner of a side alley way. Matt nodded (albeit reluctantly) and he followed on as Josh moved to get closer.

The man was acting very guilty indeed, Josh recognised the signs. Shallow breathing, fidgeting, concern and involuntary shifting of his weight. With a dark smile, Josh moved in closer, backing into the alley with the backwards movement of the crowd.

"What are you-" Matt said, but to no avail. Josh's hands shot out from nowhere, and suddenly the man disappeared silently. It was dark enough that no-one could have seen anyway.

_Jesus, why did I get myself into this?_ He thought as he slunk around the corner.

There was a scuffle; Josh pushed the man down behind a skip, his arms around the man's mouth so he hadn't had time to shout. The man put up a terrific fight, struggling and swashing around, trying to get in a punch. It was no match for Josh, who had had a good grip on him in the first place. Josh just held him to the ground, waiting as his scuffles became weaker. Finally the man released his grip, and Josh got up, swiftly pulling the man by the collar and Matt by the arm down into the alley way, away from the parade (now in full swing).

"Guys…Did you… see that?" Josh's voice bounced between strides as he jogged.

"Kind of. I don't know what to make of it though." Said Leon.

Josh rolled his eyes.

"I've got one."

At this, Michael made a triumphant motion inside the closed pub (a building Leon had not been able to clear) with Dom.

"Did you hear that Stell?"

"Yes Michael." Stella said with a slow disappointed voice. She frowned. She'd heard what had gone on, and was deeply disappointed that Josh had got to the first target, meaning she'd lost her bet with Michael that Lawson would get there first.

"So what… you owe me?" he chided into the radio with a grin.

"Yes! I owe you twenty. Now shut up and do your job."

"That's good Michael, now you can pay the money you owe me." Grace chided brightly into her radio.

Michael scowled.

"Oi, Michael." He jogged up the teak stairway above the bar, to Dom's voice. It opened into a room, presumably where the owner had once lived. It was littered with rubbish, old gun cartridges, beer bottles, clothes…

"Shit eh?" Dom went to look through an old chest by the broken mirror, but stopped when they heard a creak of a door downstairs.

"Yeah, everything's good up here. I'm just going to get my stuff then I'll go back down." Dom motioned to Michael, who nodded, moving swiftly behind the door, pulling out his gun. Dom remained by the door jam, his gun drawn, face concentrated. Footsteps sounded up the stairs. The man entered the room, past Dom and Michael.

"Yeah it's all good to go."

Michael nodded when Dom motioned; he was going to sneak up on the man from behind, and Michael was to cover him.

The man turned just as Dom got to him, groped for his radio and tried to run at the same time. With a muffled yelp, he fell down as Dom leapt on him, Michael moving over to pull the man's radio away. He flicked the switch off, and helped Dom pull him up.

"Jonas? Jonas! What's going on? I'm coming up." A mans voice crackled through the radio Michael was holding. He looked at Dom with a horrified expression. Immediately, his hand jumped to his gun, drawing it, as hurried footsteps came up on the stairs. Michael shot a hand out, effectively clothes-lining the man flat onto his back before he could alert any others. This mans radio crackled to life.

"What is it? Is everything OK? Is it the cops?" Michael eyed it in disbelief; was this ever going to stop? "Well? What happened? It is them isn't it, someone snitched!"

"No no, everything is fine. Just…tripped on the stair well." Muttered Michael, doing his best impression of the gruff voice of the man he'd knocked out.

"Well hurry up! We've only got another hour, set up and do it fast!" The man's voice disappeared. Michael slumped onto the couch opposite with a sigh.

"Good work mate." Said Dom, looking at him with relief.

Michael looked back at the man he'd knocked out.

"What should we do with them?" He jerked his thumb in the man's direction. Dom had gagged the other, and was tying him up to the bed post.

"Just leave them here. He shouldn't wake up for a few hours at least, and by that time someone will be back for them."

"Should we take these?"

Dom looked back at him.

"If you can remember whose is whose." Michael stared at the identical radios mixed up in his hand. Thinking it best not to try his luck further, Michael simply took them apart.

"Lawson, where are you?"

"Just cleared that old Church beside the tower, any luck?"

"Yeah, me and hot shot here took out a couple of guys snooping around, Jonas and…" He looked at Michael.

"I think the other one was Tim Forsythe, he came up in the search I did on the organisation." Said Leon through the radio.

"Good to see you're still watching Leon." Said Lawson, leaning down to speak into the radio on his black vest.

Meanwhile, Josh had managed to take the man he'd caught back to Kerry.

"This one was snooping by the east alleyway."

"Who is he?" Asked Kerry as another officer took him away.

"He's Mitchell Greenman."

"Glad he's being some help to you Josh." Kerry teased.

Josh smirked.

"We'll sort him out, get what we can from him, you should go back and talk to Stella. I think her and Leon have cleared the crowd; no-one else is where we can see them. Michael and Dom took down some guys who were supposed to be on the south corner and east wall."

"And Lawson?"

He will finish up clearing the buildings with Dom and Michael. Grace is still at the belltower. Once you and Stella have finished up, head there."

Josh nodded and swept away without a second glance.

"Leon's tracked down one more guy from what Matt said, he's headed up north." Said Stella as they jogged through the crowd amidst a rendition of jingle bell rock and a flurry of fake snow.

"Matt? Is this right?"

"Yeah" he replied as he bobbed along in Josh's wake. "There were only four people on the ground. I don't know where the rest are. The information was split. They split up into areas to aim."

"Great." Muttered Josh sarcastically as they jogged.

"Guys? Our man just went through a side part in the railing; he's crossing the street now."

"Shit!" cursed Josh, and he ran harder.

"We can't just jump through the parade and go after him; the rest of the buggers' will be onto us!"

"Go around, I'll go through.

"What? No-" josh reached for the back of Stella's' shirt, but she sped up, pushing through a gap in the crowd and racing in front of a giant tinsel-wreathed float. Josh stopped, scanning the crowd for some sign of Stella, but he couldn't see her. It seemed no-one else noticed her either.

Cursing, he hauled Matt along.

"Leon, how are we for clearance? The commissioner's here now." Mumbled Grace in her cool voice into her radio. She had stepped up onto the steps of a side building, near a tight passageway, appearing to lean casually against it like a few other like minded people, but intently scanning the crowd for anyone who looked like they had a debt to settle…

"Dom and Michael are finishing off the left side now, I've been through the bell tower cameras, but nothing has been done in there, security checked it all too. Lawson's heading up the few I couldn't get access to on the right."

"So where are they?" She spoke to Leon, but it was more to herself. She scratched her neck to make it appear natural; looking up at the building she'd just stepped off.

"Wait a minute…" Grace squinted at a figure next to the bell tower. She began to move, dodging the jostling crowd to get closer.

"Guys, I'm going back to-" suddenly, she cut out.

"What the-?" Leon had stopped typing. One of his screens had become static, one of the many cameras he had been watching.

"Grace? Where are you now? Matt and I are coming up the east side now." Said Josh, having heard the cut-out.

"Grace?"

Nothing.

Josh turned around, looking up at the buildings, all looming in the darkness, any one of them containing a couple of snipers who could shoot any one on this street at any time.

"Leon what's going on?"

"I don't know. She stepped off the church… then she just…disappeared." He started typing furiously again, trying to zoom in.

Matt was almost ripped from his arm as Josh abruptly accelerated from a halt to an urgent sprint, towing him along at breakneck speed up the street.

*

Oh NO! What's going on? Why is josh acting like the bus from speed all of a sudden? Tune in and find out soon!

Wow, what a chapter. It took me ages to finish, and that was even before I'd started editing! Hope Ya'll like it!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hooly Dooly! These next two chapters were huge to write! My countless apologies to you all that it took so long, I went on holiday with my rents and didn't have access to a computer for a while (managed to steal my dad's laptop hee hee).

Big thanks to my dedicated reviewers (Tam, Mistreated, Writer girl, deejonaisse, and…you're all awesome!) it's great when you've written your first story to get great reviews for it! I'm inspired! I will definitely write more when this is done :) Anyways, on with the story! Enjoy

Chloe

Marcus Fletcher surveyed the screen with interest. He leant back, tossing his dark hair from his eyes, leaning over his ringed hands. A few clicks had just seen him zoom in on the street below, focusing on the church; the radiant lighting reflecting a myriad of Christmas colours on the dark grey stone.

A woman had attracted his interest.

She was trivial at a first glance, fitting well into the crowd. At a second glance she might have caught the attention of a young man; she was very pretty, but nothing gave her away as one who might stay and chat in such circumstances; she had the air of no-nonsense about her.

There was something else. She kept making gestures, and (with the aid of the tapped camera) he could see her lips move very slightly now and then, though there was no-one close enough to be conversing in such soft tones with her, or at least appear to be.

With a dark smile, he leaned in.

"Bingo"

Suddenly he looked up with a frown. "You. Front of the church right now. This woman." The man he was addressing nodded once before disappearing.

That was what Marcus liked about Seth. He always knew what was being asked, and would do it. Marcus had been in this business long enough to know that the woman in the dark jeans and green jacket, attempting to be invisible in the street below was a cop. A cop blindly oblivious to the threat now upon her. What she (and whoever she was reporting to) was doing here would be dealt with later.

*

"So where are they?" Grace murmured, more to herself than anything. She brushed her wrist along her neck, looking up at the building opposite thinking…

Something caught her eye. It was a figure, some man… but his image was strangely familiar, perhaps on one of the files Leon had shown her before she left?

"Wait a minute…" she was sure of it now. She began to move, quickly as she could without attracting too much attention.

"Guys I'm going back to-" in a split second it felt like she'd been shot, or hit by a car or something. A hard arm forced her back, the next thing she knew she was on her back. The force pressed down on her roughly; instinctively she struggled. The crowd was right there, oblivious to the violent struggle happening not a metre from them. That made it all the more terrifying. Sickeningly, she was inches away from help, but she couldn't breathe; she thrashed violently under the weight to no avail. For that minute she spent grappling with the unmarked man, the crowd was too loud to hear her scuffles. It was like the bad dream Grace had sometimes. She couldn't scream loud enough, couldn't run fast enough to escape. She knew as she drew her last feeble attempts to loosen the man's hold that she wouldn't wake up from this one…

She was being forced backwards, gasping now that the constriction on her winded chest had released, an arm shoved over her mouth to stop her from screaming. Gladly she let the man drag her back, away from any chance of help; just to be able to breathe again and stop her head spinning was the best relief ever. Dazed, she slumped as the man hauled her up what felt like stairs…

*

Matt had never run faster in his life. Josh was hauling him along at a great speed; the crowd seemed to part just to get out of his way.

_Christ, I swear he's ripped my arm right out now. The man's a bloody machine!_

But Josh did not, would not, slow down.

"Josh? I've got up a-"Leon's voice started going static in Josh's ear.

"Leon? Leon! You're cutting out! What's going on!" uttered Josh into his wrist, abandoning all attempts to blend in. Leon did not reply.

He ran on, his legs pounding onto the ground, pushing him faster. He looked around wildly as he sprinted, the crowd seemed to slow, everything appeared terribly ominous, like the stillness before a shower of summer lightning.

In a split second he had stopped, Matt swinging about behind him. Suddenly Josh turned, ramming him against the wall to the left; the sandy stone of an old post office.

"Wha-?" He was cut off as Josh jerked him away violently, shoving him back to shut him up. A flicker of real fear shot through him then; the frown Josh was giving him was murderous. From what he'd gathered from this tough cop's demeanour, Matt knew this was not a man to cross.

"What is going on?" Came Josh's voice, soft yet strong; like the calm before a storm. Matt's expression was one of pure incredulousness as Josh pinned him back to the wall, grabbing him by the folds of his jacket.

"I don't know what you-" With a growl, Josh shoved him up by the collar higher up the wall; his trainers were no longer touching the floor.

"You know, I know you do! What happened to Grace?" He snarled, fury blazing like fire in his eyes; and Matt knew he hadn't even started yet.

"Josh I'm telling you I don't have a clue."

"Where is Grace? Where are they shooting from?"

"I don't know!" Matt flinched as Josh swore, preparing for the worst.

"What have they done with her? How did they know?"

"Know what?" At this Josh lifted him off the wall and thudded him back against it.

"Who she is!" Josh's face turned stony "You set us up!"

"No!" Matt shouted weakly "No, I don't know how… I never knew… I couldn't have-" He stammered.

"Tell me where they are." Growled Josh with an air of finality.

*

"Josh?" Said Leon into his headset, eyeing the screen in front of him with increasing apprehension. "I've got up a shot of the security camera for the-" he was interrupted by Josh's urgent voice.

"Leon?...on! You're cutting out…at's going-" the connection disappeared.

"Shit!" Leon cursed, typing feverishly, bringing up a screen of the east side camera, trying to locate the broad form of Josh.

"What's going on Leon? What happened?" Leon didn't look down from the screens as he answered Kerry.

"Grace was on my camera by the church, but she's just disappeared. Josh and Matt were on the east side, but he's cut out; I think he may have gone over a receiving point or something. And-" with a click Leon brought up the still static screen. "One of my cameras have gone static, like someone has just disconnected it."

Kerry didn't like the sound of how this was going.

"Where's Josh now?"

"Hang on a tic, and I'll get a visual on the east side camera…" A second later and he had zoomed in on the last stretch of the road. His earpiece found Josh before his computer did. It connected, and Josh paused, releasing Matt with one hand to readjust his radio.

"Leon? What the hell is going on?"  
"Hang on, where are you?"

"Post office. Leon, we don't have time, what's going on? What happened?" Leon zoomed in on the post office and found where they were. This came up on Kerry's makeshift monitor (a laptop) back in the car park too.

Still thinking of the screen Leon mentioned, Kerry spoke. "Wait, Leon? Is this where you think they're going to shoot from? Where they've cut it?"

"What's going on? What happened with Grace?" Lawson's voice came through. Leon typed furiously, trying to sort through three pairs of questions at the same time.

"Hold your horses everyone! Kerry, this should be it, there's no-where else within range for them to be-"

"Leon, where?" Josh began walking, pulling Matt along in a vice-like grip.

"Josh, hang on mate. Lawson, Grace disappeared, and I think I've got a lead on where the rest of them are."

"Leon, tell me where! I've got a shot-" Came Josh's voice again, characteristically impatient.

"Josh! You are to hold your position! That's an order!" Came Kerry's voice sternly. "Leon, get Dom and Michael over there, Josh is to stay where he is! He can follow the lead when we've got backup to him!" Kerry's voice snapped loudly. She had an inkling of where this was going, and Josh throwing on the hero thing now would blow a hole the size of Berlin in this operation.

"Leon! Where!" Josh yelled, ignoring Kerry, still pacing along the post office.

"Josh, just wait where you are, I'm sending Dom-"

Feeling a rising sense of panic, Josh swore. The commissioner was in imminent danger of being shot any minute now, and God knew what'd happened to Grace.

"Leon we don't have time! It's nearly midnight now, I can make it! What screen did they cut? Is it the belltower?"

Leon hesitated as Kerry cursed. He checked the clock on the screen. It was 12:50. Dom and Michael wouldn't be there in time. Kerry was about to shout some more when Lawson spoke.

"Leon! Don't! Josh! Wait for Dom and Michael!" Yelled Lawson, running up behind the west side of the road.

"LEON!" Josh roared, causing Matt to jump a foot and roused Leon into action.

"It's the bell-tower! The security screens are down, take the back entrance."

Leon said, typing away like mad, the chaotic atmosphere clearing his usually systematic head. Kerry groaned and slumped against the car in a gesture of frustration.

"You can yell at me later Kerry, right now we've gotta concentrate on getting us in there and out as soon as possible"

She cursed silently, Leon could be so naïve. He obviously had forgotten what trouble Josh was capable of getting himself into alone.

"You just better be hoping Dom and Michael get there soon."

Josh pulled at Matt's arm, ramming on fast into a full on sprint, closing the gap between them and the tower. Quickly, they brushed past the giant Christmas tree that marked the end of the road, giant baubles and scratchy fir fronds assaulting them as they ran. Josh curved, almost running into someone huffing and puffing.

Stella clutched her sides as she slid to a stop.

"He…got-away…I-can't…" Josh grabbed Matt and thrust him in her direction; evidently Stella hadn't heard the latest news. Giving matt a murderous look, he pointed at him.

"You. Stay here." Without giving Stella a chance to get a word in, he turned and ran, disappearing right around the end of the street.

_They've got Grace. They've got Grace, and they're up in the belltower..._ was the only thing going through his mind as he ran. And, by god he was going to get to her…to hell with Kerry, he was going to save her. Even if it was just him, walking this road alone, he'd come for her.

*

All Grace knew was that she had been pushed up at least ten flights of stairs. It was so dark in this iron grey passage; she stumbled upon the thought of how her captor knew where he was walking. Another flight later and they had reached the top; Grace stepped up blindly to find the floor to be flat. Her captor leaned forwards, fiddling with something to the side before pushing her roughly through to the right. Another flight of steeper stairs met her toe and she stepped up mechanically. At the end of this flight, the man clicked something metallic at the door before she was thrust in, tripping over the threshold.

She stood in the middle of what looked like a veranda, she could see a large flat roof stretching out on all sides, supported by thick stone pillars and railing on the edge. Over the railing were the heads of other buildings, and the night. The most remarkable feature was the gigantic coppery bells hanging from the ceiling in regular intervals across the space, the lower halves disappearing through holes in the floor. Cheers and chatter flowed up from the street below; the crowd at the parade.

"So nice you could join us Miss-?" Grace looked over to the man who had addressed her, glaring up from under her flustered fringe. Thinking quickly through her exhaustion, she decided to play along.

"Grace. My name's Grace." The man smiled. He was what Grace would imagine to be tall, dark and handsome. He had dark hair, and dark dangerous eyes. He wore a dark leather jacket (Italian probably), and dark jeans.

Something felt wet and sticky against her cheek in the sudden gust of wind that flew through the rafters; she put a hand to her cheekbone and felt a dull sting. She wiped away the blood slowly.

"Please forgive me, Seth isn't known for his gentleness" he smiled at her in what she supposed he meant as an endearing way. She looked away.

"I suppose you know what's going on then. So, we couldn't have you rallying all your mates around here could we? It's best just to get you out of the way while we… you know" he made a gesture for shooting. "One of my men is still down there to enable us to make our escape. He'll set off some fireworks as a nice diversion so everyone doesn't immediately start looking for who shot the commissioner. We will get out undetected, and our cause will have been completed"

"It doesn't have to be like that. If you let me help, we can talk about this."

The man chuckled as he sat down in front of what appeared to be a laptop; the space he had evidently vacated for her arrival.

"Oh Grace, I think the time for 'talking' is past." She made to move closer, to make her feeble appeal a little stronger, but she was stopped immediately by two other men. Calculating, she made a note of how many men there were in the tower, two behind her, Marcus to the left, another on the edge of the balcony, setting up a rifle, and another…

Jesus, she'd really got herself into it this time…

Please R&R! You know how much I love it when you do that hehehe… also, Chapter 6 will be up real soon (I promise!!!) and I plan for it to be the last chapter (I know, its finished :( I'm heaps bummed too) BUT! I will write an epilogue about Christmas day for those who want it! So if you want to find out what they all do on their day off for Christmas tell me in a review and I will get on it speedily! Merry Christmas!!!!


	6. Chapter 6

I HAVEN"T FORGOTTEN YOU GUYS! I know I said this was coming very soon on the 24th but hear me out! I got back from Adelaide, and had just finished writing this when my computer crashed and it took four weeks to get someone out here to fix the dastardly thing. My endless apologies that it's so late, I was planning on this whole thing to be done for Christmas day but unfortunately reception and the dark computer virus gods had a different plan. Anyway, enjoy this chapter, the epilogue is coming tomorrow (with Grace/Josh fluff galore!!! YAY!!!) and I will write again when I get my own Laptop! (Hopefully soon, but don't count on it the way things have been going.

*

Meanwhile, Stella was trying to get to Lawson to regroup.

"Yeah, keep coming till you can see the big Christmas tree. Yep. Ok… yeah I can see you, turn left…"

She jumped up on tippy toes and waved, catching the dark haired man's attention.

"Stella, Dom and Michael are headed your way now, coming through Varnche alley. Where's Josh?"

She turned around, and gave him a grave look.

"He's already gone." Lawson made an angry gesture.

"What now?" She asked when everyone was within earshot.

"We're going to go in, Dom and Michael and I. Leon told us that there's another guy running around here, I want you to find him." Lawson was pacing a little, looking at them all imploringly.

"What about Matt?" Stella said hurriedly as Dom and Michael did a double take and turned around; Lawson had already turned to leave. Matt looked beseechingly at Lawson.

"He stays here." Said Lawson firmly from over his shoulder, before all three of them started jogging towards the tree at the end of the road. Stella let her stance slump with a grumble. She had barely started walking back to Matt when something caught her eye.

"Hey! Wait… Stop!" She started sprinting, leaping over a barrier to chase the man running past a float of sea animals. Before Matt had time to speak, Stella yelled back at him.

"You stay there! Don't move!" she shouted, throwing him the iciest gesture she could before disappearing with the man around a corner.

Exasperated, Matt sat down at the crowd's feet; feeling like this was the worst Christmas Eve of his life.

*

The well-built form of a tall man slowed as it rounded the edge of the vast stone building, passing by a few lonely people in the dark alley. Finally Josh reached the last side, furthest from the parade. He pulled at the heavy-looking brass doors and found them unlocked. Upon further inspection, he saw they had been forced. Without a second glance he vanished into the dark hall within.

It was dark inside, and it smelled empty. He felt his denim jacket flap as he strode to the right, his foot finding some stairs to climb. Walking as silently as he could, and staring out the place as best he could through the gloom; he murmured into his radio.

"Nothing on the first floor. Sounds empty everywhere. I'll keep you posted Leon." Leon nodded, trying to get up some cameras for the belltower in vain; there seemed no way he could get into the place.

"That would be awesome, Joshie." Josh came up on the second floor landing, moving quickly through before ascending further. They would be higher up to aim from this angle… it's what he'd do. In a matter of minutes he had gotten to the last floor (eleventh) and stopped. It too was empty, just like the others, just empty hallway.

"Leon, there's nothing here. I'm on the last floor, and there's nothing." Said Josh, irked.

"Not even dust bunnies?" Josh bit back an angry retort to that, but he didn't have to look far to find a distraction. Pausing, he drew closer to the side wall off the stairs to look closer at the wood patterns. To the untrained eye, the wood looked no different in this particular spot to the rest of the wall, it looked especially similar in the grey conditions. But Josh had an exceptionally good eye for things out of the ordinary and recognised the well-disguised plaster board at once.

"Leon? Have you got blueprints for this building?" He murmured, stepping back to size up the disparate part of the wall.

"Just got into them."

"Can you tell me how many levels up it goes? I've gone up eleven sets of stairs, but all I've come across are meeting halls."

Leon switched to a building plan.  
"Yeah, it goes up eleven levels, then twelve and thirteen are the eaves for the bells… but it should be blocked off now, the bells haven't been operational for years."

Josh eyed the door-sized patch on the wall with a dark smile.

"Leon, I think I've found them. They're up the top in the bell eaves. It's all open up there right?"

"Yeah, it should be like a balcony for the bells to reverberate."

Weighing up how possibly thick the plasterboard could be momentarily, Josh screwed up his strength with a shrug.

"Balconies. Perfect sniper territory." With that he leant back, aiming a powerful kick into the wall. With a guilty sense of satisfaction, Josh heard it splinter back with a thud.

"I had a dog…" Said Leon with a grin.

"And his name was Bingo." Finished Josh, stepping over the threshold with caution, he heard something overhead, like voices…

The scene he'd smashed into was very different to the eleven stories below. This eave-like space was wide, low and empty, but it (unlike the eleven stories below) looked and smelled of dust, the motes floating through the shadows like tiny planets. It gave the eave an old, untouched sort of aura, one that seemed forbidden and enchanting at the same time. It very much reminded him of the opening scene of Van Helsing, though he doubted very much he could reason with a Mr Hyde if there was one up here; which was doubtful. Josh couldn't be stuffed with this uneven level; his attention was diverted to the voices coming from the holes in the cut wooden ceiling that held the bells and their chains…

"Are we ready?" Asked Marcus, rather wearily. The man by the balcony nodded, not taking his eye away from the eyepiece of the black rifle.

Grace stood a little ways away, next to the wall at right angles to the one the sniper was leant over, standing braced beside the man who had dragged her here. God, her ribs hurt… the bastard had bruised them to shit when he had forced her down. Forcing her mind off her aching body, she waited silently, all the while working her brain furiously through possible plans of action she could take, rusty terrain for her; usually a negotiator. There wasn't much hope of doing anything, not much help she could be when surrounded by men; although none of them were actually holding onto her, which was a plus. She took careful note of her surroundings, the old bells where very wide, and she figured she could use them for cover of some sort if things got ugly; the men wouldn't be quite so trigger happy when one stray bullet could ricochet off the golden metal and shoot back at them. Building on this, she swept a lock of her fringe behind her ear and tactfully looked over to the sniper. It seemed (without making it look as though she were calculating to foil their plot) that he was the only one on the further side of the evenly spaced row of bells in the upper eave, the rest were spaced out behind; one near what looked like the door, Marcus in a chair behind the third and middle bell down, two near her and one other directly opposite, leaning on the wall parallel. All of them had guns in their belts.

"Almost time." Said Marcus coolly from his seat, giving Grace a shady smile.

Finally, she saw a window. The men behind her were too far back to restrain her if she acted fast and suddenly. The sniper was too focused to react in time either. The first bell was about a foot from…

"On my count," murmured Marcus from his watch, clearly enjoying this. "Three…"

No time to think. Her decision was made for her already. She steeled herself…

"Two…"

Josh was directly under the first bell, having searched in vain for a ladder or some easy way to get up to the next level without immediately informing the men up there of his presence. He had heard Grace's name, so she was up there too…

_Fuck this_. With a mental curse, he tensed, springing up high to catch hold of the wooden skirting beside the bell's edge, he hung there for a second, straining to hear something before he pulled himself laboriously up, but everything was silent…

"One…" Instantly she was running, her legs screaming a protest at the speed with which she made them move, and it was only just fast enough. She had almost made it to the dazed shooter, so she ordered her muscles to stop their bitching and move.

Josh gazed up at the faint light filtering through the small window in the ceiling, preparing to pull himself up. What he didn't expect was a blur of green and blue racing past…

Bang! She had collided with the man from the side, forcing him back away from the edge, falling with him behind the wide golden bell arch. With a split-second of satisfaction she heard the rifle clatter harmlessly down over the edge, and the clang of scull on metal bell.

It was in that split second of victory that she realised she was stuck. Her jubilation faded quickly. What now? She hadn't had time to think past taking out the immediate threat.

Josh leapt up, hauling himself up through the crack between the wood and the metal bell amidst chaos. Men were yelling, shots had been fired (through the roof it seemed) and something had crashed to the floor, like a laptop hurled away in shock. With his deadly serious concentration on his face, Josh pulled a strong leg up, crawling up beside the fallen shooter. He met Graces eye with his usual look of concern as they sat slumped behind the bell amid a barrage of shouts and bullets.

Josh? How did he get here, how did he know? Grace thought about this. But of course he was here, her own personal friggin miracle. She'd almost never been so glad to see him, with that short tough guy haircut and that wretched denim jacket.

"You OK?" He asked quietly, jerking his head up in question. Grace almost smiled at that. She nodded.

"Yeah." Waiting for the chaos to stop, Josh moved around to the right of the bell, looking past to try and get some feedback as to what was going on there. Grace had taken out the sniper, now they just had to get out of here.

"Grace?" She looked at him across her shoulder, nodding at his whisper. He looked at her in his Josh-like way as he whispered, his eyebrows slightly raised, looking up at her from underneath them. "They've stopped. I think they're trying to go around us. It won't take long for them to get their nerve up, so we've got to move quick." Grace nodded, looking away to her left where the next bell along creaked. Suddenly an idea occurred to her. Knowing they had little time, she turned back, focusing her elegant dark brown eyes on him.

"Can we go back the way you came? The commissioner will be finished in a few minutes, so they won't have enough time to try and shoot him again" Josh shook his head, looking from her around the room and back again.

"They would rip through this floor in seconds." His grave look made her frown and face the front, thinking. Since she had no ideas, and because Josh had the senior rank in this situation, she let him decide what to do. He nodded to her, motioning in the sign language the TR team was familiar with in situations like this, and she moved swiftly from this bell to the next, closer to the centre of the room. Marcus' gaze was focused on the first, and luckily didn't see when she passed behind the thin gap.

Suddenly, a flash of silver made Grace duck reflexively. She looked up; Josh was on top of the man who had pushed her to the ground earlier. She cast a look around her side, two men where guarding the door, Marcus and another were closer, getting edgy at the scuffle Josh and Seth were making. Josh had managed to extricate the man's gun, still kneeling with his knee on the man's back. Grace smirked. Any pain Josh caused Seth was fine with her…

Someone moved beside the next bell. Grace crouched, preparing to spring. She leapt past, jumping into the cover of the next bell, but Josh was right; the men had gotten their nerve up.

They had started a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with these men, their only cover being the lofty bells. Any noise, any wrong move would give her or Josh away.

"So, you have company Grace? Your friend here-how did he know where you would be? I'm perpetually curious…" Came Marcus' deadly polite voice from somewhere to her left. Josh frowned, as if biting back a retort. Grace gave him a look that shut him up. Carefully, she edged around the left of the bell, after Josh signalled to her; he was standing in a half crouch, ready to go.

Abruptly, many things happened in quick succession. A gunshot rang out with a horrible metallic gong, and Grace felt a searing pain in her left shoulder. She heard Josh shout, as well as other shouts coming from behind them. Chaos surrounded her as she sank to her knees beside the gold, clutching her upper arm…

*

Stella ran faster than she'd ever recalled running in her life. The man was extremely fast, but all her TR training was paying off when she needed it most, and she kept good ground on him, considering her circumstances of being tangled in a web of bystanders. She shouted at him every now and then, hoping someone might think to stop him. No use. She'd have to catch this one herself.

He veered off, pushing someone over in the process. Stella leapt over the fallen man without so much as an apology. She was losing him!

He had veered off again, and out of sight. Panting, Stella whirled around, searching wildly with a heaving chest. She jogged along the wall, turning into an intersection and running past a gathering of Santa's. She slowed to inspect the side streets dotted along this one, seeing nothing but bins and the odd box or two. He had disappeared into thin air.

*

Josh dived off the man, and into the shelter of the next bell.

"Grace? Grace!" She felt a strong arm drag her effortlessly away from the edge. Yowling a feeble protest, Grace let herself be pulled (gently) into a sitting position. Josh's gaze was just as she expected; she didn't have time to try and downplay his alarm; he was instantly there, leaning over her protectively, studying her bleeding arm. She followed his gaze to the ripped hole in her green jacket, and arched an eyebrow. It was bleeding quite bad, but not enough to be too serious.

"I'm fine." She managed, surveying Josh's expression with dazed interest. Intensely focussed on patching her wound up with some extra cloth hanging off her ripped jacket, he jerked up when she spoke. No more gunshots rang out, people where still yelling though, and Grace decided she wanted to know what was going on.

"Drop your weapon!" Insisted a voice that sounded oddly familiar. Lawson. She was almost jubilant in relief. She made to stand, but was knocked down again, Josh was suddenly a foot away, having been knocked aside by one of the men who had been lurking unbeknownst beside the first bell. Josh kicked him off, pushing the man to the floor, and Grace used this distraction to stand up and (ignoring the pain in her shoulder) check out what was going on. She peered through the gap in time to see Michael shout and draw his aim past the next bell, at a running Marcus Fletcher. Without a second thought she sprang along, her adrenaline fuelled pace no match for his short strides. With a groan, and a good deal of effort, she jumped and struck him down, the pain in her arm searing. Shaking, she was glad to be helped back to her feet.

"Grace? You OK?" Said the kind voice of Dom. She nodded, calling it a day. Glancing out at the scene left in the eaves, in which Lawson and Michael where cuffing the rest of the miscreants, Grace couldn't help but feel a little smug.

"Everything's cool now. Be seeing you Marcus." She nodded to the man being dragged up beside a stone pillar, the look on his face making her grin as she turned away.

*

A shout of joy roused her attention as she decided to pack it in and see if the others had had better luck with there somewhat bigger pursuits. Sidling along, she rounded the corner into the open alleyway, and gasped at what she saw.

Fireworks. A LOT of fireworks. Or firecrackers. How could you tell? Her pursuit was slumped beside one, with what appeared to be a box of matches.

"Drop it! Drop it now!" She yelled, throwing herself into a sprint. The man flinched, but continued. He had lit a match, and had pressed it against the fuse… Distracted by the flare, Stella momentarily forgot to put on the brakes, slamming into the man. They both toppled over, Stella grappling to drag him up by the coat.

"Gotcha. Get up!" She shouted, pulling him to his feet. The fireworks flared brightly for a moment, before making a hissing noise, sparks flying.

"We might want to move." Smirked the man as she backed away. _Oh no…_she dragged him along, pushing them into a run along the street, as far as was possible in the short moment they had. In all those movies of bombs going off, when the people where running from the explosion, Stella never quite understood why they all jumped just as the background lit up with flames. It was now that she understood. They weren't jumping at all. The explosion really did throw them. She dove for cover behind the skip at the end of the laneway as the explosion took off, feeling the air behind her blast out like a hurricane. Yells and shouts of excitement dotted the screams of the fireworks, now cracking deafeningly in the sky. Stella threw the man a deathly glare before shoving him to his feet by the elbow and skulking back to the parade.

*

They were bunched up close, right at the front, him and Stella, Michael, Lawson and Dom, listening to the final few seconds of the commissioner's speech. The stunning Christmas tree was a little way behind them, the church on their left and the eventful belltower directly in front. From where they stood, the end of the man's words drifted back to them clearly.  
"…to wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a joyous new year. Thankyou." He nodded and stepped down off the stairs to an explosion of cheers. Michael, Dom and Stella where cheering and whooping like a trio of school leavers. Josh realised the reason for their jubilation was that their job was finally officially over with the end of his speech. It was truly over as he got back into the taxi and drove away. Josh yelled out a bit too, he couldn't help it. The fact that they had all gotten away with this (especially Grace) was a good enough reason in itself. It was also Christmas, so that was also a good excuse.

The crowd disbanded with noises of merriment, the space between people widened as calls of 'Merry Christmas' floated over the crowd.

Grace heard these calls as she and Kerry jogged up to the main square, after being cleared with a bullet graze by the ambos. Confused, she checked her watch; it was 12:14. It had been Christmas for fourteen minutes and she hadn't even realised. She was walking about twenty metres away from the rest of the group when she found who she was looking for. Josh met her gaze with a private smile. The team was gathering around Kerry.

"Merry Christmas Grace." He whispered, clapping her gently on the back as he turned away. They turned to the rest of the group, where Kerry had arrived to give her famous debrief. Josh mentally groaned. He was surely going to cop it now. He was almost sure that Kerry was just as annoyed about it too; she knew he'd have a retort ready. What she said made him almost do a double take.

"I'd like to congratulate you all. We did what we came to do, no-one got hurt and the public was unconcerned about the incident. The way things should be handled in a situation like this. We did our job. Not much else for me to say." Josh frowned, meeting Kerry's gaze.

"What are you looking so confused about Josh? Everyone got out alive didn't they?" There was something in her amused half-smile that Josh couldn't understand. He stood stiff and attentive, like the rest of the team, prepared for any rebuff that came his way.

"So what's everyone up to tomorrow?" The group collectively mumbled and shifted at this unexpected remark from Kerry, expecting to be hauled back to work.

"Um, I was just…" Started Michael, before he figured he didn't have any concrete plans.

"Well, I'm having Chrissie at my house tomorrow, lunch and dinner; you're all welcome to come." Kerry suggested.

Dom looked uneasy.

"I was going to… spend Christmas with Sandrine…"

"Sandrine is welcome to come too, with Claire." Kerry surveyed them all with a strange look in her eye. Grace weighed it out as somewhere between shyness and embarrassment. "Some people cancelled at the last minute, so I've got heaps of food that'll only go to waste."

This seemed to persuade Michael.

"I'll come. I wasn't really going to do much anyway."

Stella shrugged.

"I'm in."

Lawson nodded, as did Dom.

"Yeah, I think we will. Thanks Kerry!"

"We'll come too." Said Grace and Josh in unison, after exchanging looks. "I've got some Christmas cake at home. I'll bring it tomorrow." Said Josh.

"I'll give Grace back her um… pants…" Said Stella. Everyone laughed.

And so it was decided. After those who had family or friends in Melbourne had caught up with them, everyone would go to Kerry's place for lunch. The crowd swelled around as the music started up again, thickening in around the small gathering of friends that was the RUSH tactical response team. Josh gave Grace a funny look and shrugged at the sight of Kerry and Dom retreating. She grinned goofily at him, everyone was more euphoric all of a sudden. His unique green/grey eyes where alight with joy. The whole street looked suddenly more beautiful; Grace supposed she had become more perceptive, she must have snapped out of "work" mode back at the dull ambulance. Stella broke the moment with her yelling with Michael, they were jumping up and down, like a couple of over excited teenagers, with the throng of happy parade goers.

Grace didn't even have time to laugh at their antics, Josh had pulled away, grasping hold of her hands and pulling her along, sweeping her into a dance at the change of song from somewhere beyond the Christmas tree. Grace recognised the melody; it was Little Waltz by Basia Bulat. She laughed gently as Josh pulled her closer, resting her forehead on his chest near his shoulder, closing her eyes. With a sweet little pang, she realised he was kissing the top of her head. Poor Josh. He must have been beside himself when she'd disappeared like that. She squeezed him tighter, her arms around his chest (which was as high as she could reach), and sighed when he returned the pressure. They just danced like this for ages, the rest of the world joyfully oblivious, still celebrating the fact that it was Christmas day. When the song ended, they pulled apart, Grace still staying close and giving him a meaningful look. He surveyed her, meeting her striking brown eyes with a soft smile, recognising a look that said she wasn't finished hugging him yet.

It was then that the group disbanded, after wishing each other merry Christmas. Grace and Josh started to meander back up the street, with Stella while Lawson followed on, a little ways away.

"Where are you going?" Asked Kerry when he turned to wave. He jerked his head back at Grace and Josh.

"Someone's gotta drive this lot home. I'll see you tomorrow K." She nodded, and he turned, jogging off in Grace and Josh's wake.

*

YAAAAY! My first story officially COMPLETE! That's kinda sad too in a way… Hopefully this is good enough to be called a tribute to the wonderful Aussie drama that is RUSH. I think writing episodes for fanfiction works, the delay between chapters is like the ad breaks on TV… Also, a bit of trivia you guys may enjoy… In the "Best and worst of 2008" issue of WHO magazine (I stumbled upon this while reading my mothers magazine on the dull plane trip.) under the BEST TV shows of 2008 guess what it said?

Underbelly came first, RUSH was listed 2nd!! As in the 2nd BEST TV show of 2008!!! The small piece their editor wrote was this:

"2:RUSH

Why: Blossoming in the shadow of Underbelly, this **classy piece of work** was shamefully overlooked. **No other program**, local or international, **could touch it** for sizzle or suspense. **Magic work from Callan Mulvey and Claire Van der Boom**."  
YOU GO JOSH AND GRACEY!!! Ha lol. Also, Doctor who came fourth HAZZAH!!!

Now I can tell my mum I do have taste in TV shows, coz her own magazine said so.

Also, heres a little thing for you to think about while I plan more stories. Grace; what colour dress would suit her if she went to a ball or other formal event (for work of course!). I'm thinking a metallic midnight blue (wonderful with her hair and dark gold jewellry) pale gold or (I've only seen this colour dress once in my life and it looked smouldering!!) a really dark, pewter silver, not quite metallic black, but sort of metallic iron grey (think a really really dark silver). Something about her tells me she would suit an unusual colour (rare I mean, not like spew green or anything unusually gross…) and she would stick out really well if she wore an unusual colour dress. Anyways that's just me, tell me what you think so I've got ideas for the next ep I'll write.

And another thing you guys might like: Here are some ideas I've got for future fics:

A rewrite of episode 11,12 and 13 of season one, and close it how I wanted it to close (with Grace not dying!!!)  
Random episodes, including one where the team gets dragged into going undercover at a charity ball (like the Ronald McDonald one we have in Perth) or maybe school ball ( like one of the teachers is planning to murder a student! Yeah that could be fun to write…), and another episode where there is like a shootout in the train station, and one of the team gets caught up in it on their day off, and the team has to sort it out before they get killed (think the subway shootout scene in Underworld, but without Vampires or werewolves (I know tragic!) and not in an American subway…

Let me know what you think. To write or not to write? Tune in and find out soon. Or coming in 2009 as channel Ten likes to say.


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